Thicker? Thinner? Different color?

I feel like the blog is a little bit of a How To lately, but as we transition to MacBooks and questions come up, I want to be sure that we all have the same information as small as it may be.

Today's "How To" walks you through how to change the color of your Smartboard markers as well as the thickness.

Click on image to access the workflow poster

Daily 5 Check-in management

Last year I tried many different ways of having my kiddos check-in for Daily 5. Although many of the ways worked, none of them helped with the management issue nightmare of having only 2 iPads in the room and who got them. After many tweaks I finally found a system that worked for my class. 
Below you will see the SMARTboard document that I created.

I really like the way this document worked and how it gave my kiddoss more ownership of their choices versus me calling their name and them telling me what they were going to do. I also found that having the visual made it easier for them and me, especially when they had multiple options within an area. For example, when they would say they wanted to do Listen to Reading, I would then have to ask them if they planned to use the tape player, CD players or the computer... now, I don't have to waste precious time asking and they can just sign up for their choice. 
Each of the * that you see is for one name. I don't have a limit on the number of kiddos that can choose read to self at any one break-out time so that's why there are no asterisks there.
We do 3 rounds each day. To make our sign up time more efficient, the kids only sign up for round 2 when they come in in the morning. When we come back from recess, they sign up for round 3 as they come into the room and before we head down for lunch. Round 1 is always Read to Self for all as I find many of my highly distracted kiddos need at least 1 round that does not have 5 million different things going on around them.

Word Work with a Tech Twist

I am working to embed multiple technologies into our Daily 5 Word Work routine to give students a more hands-on, multiple intelligence approach to learning and practicing our high frequency words and our vocabulary words.

Smartboard games

Currently, students have several options available to them and I hope to add more as they are ready.

One of the current options is to use our SMARTboard to play various games that I have created or modified to go along with our weekly high frequency words and our Words Their Way sorts. I created a folder on my desktop that houses each of the files that my students are allowed to use at this time. When I first introduced this option, I modeled how to get into and out of each document, how to minimize what was currently on the board such as our D5 rotations documents, and how to solve little glitches that come up. My students have done a fantastic job of using this area independently. I only allow 2 kiddos on the board at a time.

using Prezi

 Another option, or rather once a week requirement, is using our iPad to review the week's vocabulary words from our reading series. I introduce the words whole group on the SMARTboard using Prezis that I have created. Students then grab an iPad at some point during the week to review our vocab Prezi at their own pace and then write them in their vocabulary notebooks using the Prezi Viewer app which is free!

The other option that my students have is to use their iTouch to work on various sight word based apps. Currently we are using Teach Me 1st grade and Word Bingo by ABCya. I have several other great apps but am introducing things slowly so that students are comfortable problem solving and are able to work independently so that I am able to meet with my guided reading groups.

At one point, I had given each of my students a Word Work 3 In A Row card which I had laminated. It was their job to X off their choice each day and when they got three in a row, they received a small prize. I strategically place my "have-to" areas (Vocab prezis) on the chart so that they would have to do it to get 3 in a row. I have since abandoned this as it was time consuming for the kiddos to go and get their sheet and X things off prior to starting. Not to mention, it was turning into a nightmare for me to manage. We now are checking in on the SMARTboard and kiddos know that if they choose Word Work that they need to pick one of the above options.

As glad as I am to be done with the wonderful idea, I do think that it had its benefits at the beginning of the year in giving my students a visual of all their choices. Will I use these again next year? Hmmm... ask me in the fall... still pondering that one or how I can tweak it just a tad to make it more manageable.

Want to imbed Youtube videos into your Notebook software???

~* UPDATE *~

I'm even MORE excited than yesterday thanks to Sarah's comment below so I'm updating my original post to reflect the MUCH easier and simpler way to download and imbed Youtube videos into Notebook10 documents....

Once you find the Youtube video that you want to download, type kick in front of the youtube address like this:

http://www.kickyoutube.com/watch?v=S5eaBjKI8xQ

and then hit enter. This will take you to another screen where you will be able to download.

1. If it's your first-time, a warning box may pop-up - just select "Run" to continue. This is perfectly safe and will not install software.
2. A list of download links will appear. Click on the format you want (I was told to choose FLV for SMARTboards- I choose High quality) and select "Save As..."

To embed it into your Notebook software, click on Insert, drop down and click on Flash Vido File (FLV).

When the insert window opens, follow the path to where your files download, choose the file you want to insert and...

 VIOLA!!!

I'm sure many of you already knew how to do this, but for those of you that didn't I hope this helps you to jump for joy too!!!

Thanks again Sarah, for the tip on how to do it in a few less steps!!!

Harvey's Homepage

SMARTboard users that teach math will LOVE this site!

For those of you who have SMARTboards, this is definitely a site that you will want to check out. 
http://harveyshomepage.com/Harveys_Homepage/Welcome.html. 

This is a site that is chuck full of math lessons for the SMARTboard. My personal favorite is The Function Man file. For those of you that teach Everyday Math this file is a wonderful resource. I know that the function machine is used in both 1st and 2nd grade. The best part about this file is that Harvey Almarode, the author, also explains how to make your own using the trickery involved in the file. My kiddos went absolutely crazy for this lesson and were in total awe trying to figure out "the magic". Needless to say, they really paid attention and picked up on the concept fairly well.
3rd grade EM teachers, you'll love that he has a lattice method multiplication file!!!

 There are lessons in 7 areas on his website: 

1. number sense
2. computation estimation 
3. Patterns, algebra, and functions
4. geometry
5. measurement
6. probability, statistics
7. Utilities

The utilities section has files on creating your own spinners, jeopardy games, and pre-done manipulatives. 

All of his files are creative and engaging, and best yet- FREE!

One thing to note regarding this site- it loads extremely slowly in Internet Explorer. I use Google Chrome without any issues. The website itself recommends using Firefox.

Have fun exploring!

25 sites in 50 minutes

For those who follow this blog or check in regularly, my colleague Tracy and I presented a workshop during our district inservice titled, "25 sites in 50 minutes". We talked about all of the sites listed below.

At the bottom of this post I have embedded a Lino wall for you to share great sites that you use or can't live without. Please add your "can't live without 'em" sites to our wall. Enjoy the following links- hopefully you will find something new that you can use as well! If you have any comments about the sites listed, please feel free to leave a comment!

Teacher Resources

Tumblebooks

Storyline Online

Smilebox
Shwup
Voki/ Monkey Business
proteacher.net
Teacher Tipster

Beth Newingham

Ms. Winston

Garrison

Harvey's Homepage

Sqworl 

WallWisher / Lino

Interactive, online kid sites

Wordle

ABCya word clouds

Abcya!
Arcademic Skill Builders

Young National Geographic

National Geographic Kids

Spelling City

Starfall

Giggle Poetry
Letter Generator
Mad Libs Junior
Digital Storytelling

Now it's your turn- what are some of the great sites that you use that you can't live without. Please add them to a sticky note for all of us to learn from each other. Just put your mouse on the blue "Share your favorite site" bar and pull down a sticky note of your choice.

To see others' posts, grab and slide the background up, down, left, or right. You can also hover over the blue tab on the bottom right which will slide out and show you where the various posts are located on the wall. Also, if leaving a link, in order for it to be clickable link, you will need to use the http:// address.

My turn to ask for help...

Ahhh.... the calm after the storm has arrived, albeit just for a few days. Between Groundhog Day, Packer Day on Friday, the Super Bowl win and the craziness that accompanies it, and the 100th day all crammed into a week's time- life in 1st grade has been anything short of normal. I'm happily looking forward to Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Yes, Monday is Valentine's Day and so a bit more craziness next week along with Parent Teacher conferences, a field trip and 2 RTI meetings. Hmmm... did I already say how much I am looking forward to this Wed, Thurs, and Fri?  :-)
Granted I don't have time this year, unfortunately, but I'd like to do some version of student led conferences next year with my firsties and incorporate the SMARTboard as well. I've seen one way of doing it but it was VERY teacher time intensive and unfortunately with a 6 and 4 year old at home, I have limited time in some regards. Does anyone out there do student-led conferences or a modified variation of them? Does anyone incorporate the SMARTboard into their conferences and how?? If you've got some insight into either or both of my newest ponders, could you please leave a comment or email me at sjmalchow@pulaski.k12.wi.us?
Thanks!!!!

Groundhog Day

Being back in 1st grade this year has been wonderful but at the same time challenging. It's seems harder and harder every year to find the time to fit in some of the fun things that are still educational, such as Groundhog Day. This is one of my favorites as I incorporate research, writing, reading, and technology. I've also been working to try and incorporate more 21st Century Learning skills into my teaching.

Here's some of what we did this year... maybe you can take some of these ideas and tweak them to fit another topic that you teach.

The day before Groundhog Day we created a graph predicting whether or not we thought the groundhog would see his shadow. After putting up our graph and discussing the results we brainstormed a list of teachers in the building that we also wanted to survey. I had my kids write the name of their teacher on a little whiteboard and then they set out in teams of 2 or 3 to collect their data. When they got back we took the information and added it to our graph.  We even made an appt. with our superintendent to come over and give us his prediction. We also surveyed visitors to our blog using Survey Monkey. Overwhelmingly, the vote was that the groundhog would not see his shadow.

 During our shared reading, we used fantastic groundhog SMARTboard lesson that I found on Smartexchange. (If you have a SMARTboard and haven't checked out this resource, you need to run, not walk to see what's waiting for you. There are some fabulously creative people who share their wonderful notebook files!) This file has wonderful facts, links to other sites, and is extremely interactive! My kids learned a ton and had fun at the same time! The authors of this file also have their own site where you can purchase add'l files that they've created for just $2.00 each. A real bargain when you consider how much time it takes to create a quality notebook file!

On Groundhog's Day, we used Google Earth to locate Punxsatwney Phil's home in Pennsylvania and Jimmy the Groundhog's home in Sun Prarie, WI (did you know that we had a famous groundhog right here in WI?). We used our map skills to discuss continents, states, cities, terrain, etc.

We also went onto both Phil's and Jimmy's websites to find out how their predictions turned out and to do more research about groundhogs.

We even made a text to world connection--- Did you know that it was a battle of the groundhog's- PA vs. WI just like in the Super Bowl on Sunday?!

After all was said and done, we blogged about our experience on our classroom blog, The Dog Blog, as well.

Next week, we'll be taking our research a step further and writing paragraphs using our Step Up To Writing format and then displaying them for others to enjoy.

I sure wish all of my lessons could come together this well and incorporate so many facets of learning and technology.

On a final note, Jimmy the Groundhog has a special prediction...

a change of scenery

Have you ever just needed a little bit of new scenery to make things interesting again? Well that's just how I've felt for the past few months. Normally I am a person who jumps into everything or wants things done yesterday... however, as much as I've wanted to jump, I've restrained myself for the past two months while I tried to think through all of my options. This whole dilemna started last year when my SMARTboard was installed and the "front" of my room changed from the north wall to the west wall. For 2nd graders it wasn't such a big deal not to mention my board wasn't a vital part of my daily teaching. Well this year it is embedded into a large part of my day and my kids' tables just weren't in a location condusive to the majority of them being able to see the board well let alone interact with it in a timely fashion, this coupled with the fact that I am now teaching 1st graders which also made a difference. This problem has consumed me for the past month almost daily as I soooooo see the need to have my students' table spots around my board for better focus, time on task, and interaction, but still wanted to have a group area on the floor in front of the board as well.

WELL..... it finally came to fruition today and I couldn't be happier with the outcome of  the room. The whole room has a new feel to it, is soooo much more 1st grade friendly, and has lots of open space. I absolutely LOVE it! I'm most excited about a little nook that I made for a writing center. This is also something that I have been trying to work into the room arrangement as my kids were just going back to their table spots to write and behavior issues were cropping up. The new area is very inviting and has all the supplies in one area and the kids are pumped about it. I even put a small table lamp at the center which makes the area even more homey and inviting!! Can't wait to see how it all functions over the next few days and how the traffic pattern will flow through the room.

Edited 2/12 to say,

The new room arrangement is working beautifully!! There are so many large open spaces for the kids to spread out for Daily 5 time and math games and the writing area has been a HUGE hit- even for my reluctant writers! In fact, our temps have been below zero all week so we had indoor recess and the writing center was humming right through recess time as well!!! The tables around the SMARTboard are also working well and each set of 2 tables has a built-in teacher area that has been wonderful as it gives me a place to sit where I can work wtih 4 of my challenged learners at one time!! WOOT!!!

fridge magnets

Remember those colorful fridge magnets that scratch up your fridge, fall off and get lost but are sooo much fun? Well now you can play with fridge magnets on the computer....no more lost pieces, no more scratched refridgerator doors but still all the fun! The best part is, as children move the letters around, it will also say the letter name to them.  I love this site!!  For those of us who have SMARTboards,  a version of fridge magnets is in the gallery, but I like this one sooo much better as the letter names are said as the letters are touched or moved.
We will be using this on the SMARTboard during our spelling practice time in the mornings and on the netbooks during our Daily 5 word work time. I will also be introducing it to one of my children who has trouble with letter identification. Using it on the SMARTboard this child will be able to work independently but I will also be able to easily keep an eye on his work. 
I also like the fact that students can print their creations when they are done or save them.
The link is: http://abcya.com/alphabet_number_magnets.htm

You Tube

Who would have thought that YouTube would be such a wonderful resource for your primary classroom. I've come across several videos purely by accident which has sent me on a search for other great videos. I've found great videos for Days of the Week, Months of the Year and the one below called, "Numbers in the Teens, they start with a 1" It's got a great rap beat to engage kids. I've taken several of these videos and linked them to my calendar routine on the SMARTboard so with the touch off the screen we're off and singing.